How have I never been here before? Seriously. All, and I mean all of my future trips south will include a stop at NWS&D. If you are going to Vancouver, WA or Portland, OR or anywhere somewhat significantly south of Seattle along I5, you’d have to be either in one serious rush or legitimately brain-damaged not to stop here.

Sound a bit hyperbolic? It isn’t. We are talking about a detour of about 5 miles at most. 10 driving minutes, tops. A very, very small price to pay for great beer and food. And talk about getting your goods right from the source. All sausages are smoked right on the premises. All beers are made practically right down the street. And it’s all mind blowingly yummy!

Believe it or not, it gets better. I give the staff an A+. Since this was a stop on the way to camping at Seaquest State Park, we thought we would have the whole group in tow (13 people). This could have been overwhelming to any establishment, so we called in a warning of our arrival ahead of time. Upon arrival, we found a huge grouping of tables that was marked “reserved” for us. In the end, we were only 6 strong. The rest of the group was impatient and found lunch in Olympia (dummies). Was this a problem? Of course not. The staff simply laughed it off and served us with a smile.

I guess it didn’t hurt that we had explained to the receiver of our call that we had a $100 gift certificate and planned to spend it all on lunch and meats to go. A big thanks to friend of the Blotter, Stasia Cymes, for providing said gift certificate and her generosity in sharing it. Lunch for all was covered, with change to stare for even more meat and cheese to go. In fact, to trace it back just a bit further, a large thank you is due to Brian from Ninkasi who unselfishly passed his winnings of the Brewer’s 9 Ball Tournament at the Tap House Grille along to Stasia. Brian felt bad taking the winnings of his own event and figured that Stasia was a worthy recipient, considering that her team was knocked out of the tournament before she even had a chance to play. Thanks Brian and Ninkasi! Awesome event too by the way.

Spouts flowing Dick's

Not only was the tap selection lengthy and impressive, but any bottle could be purchased and opened at the table at no additional charge. This allowed for all of our extreme beer pleasures to be indulged simultaneously. We ordered the Imperial IPA off the draught, the Tripel, the Grand Cru, and the Imperial Stout all at once. Others at the table enjoyed the Bitter, Cream Stout, Danger, Winter…lets just say that we had some good liquids to accompany our lunch. All brews were solid, some inspired “Oh my God!”.

Lunch was sandwich heavy, something that will never bother me. My Trio Deluxe was stacked so high that it easily garnered “Scooby Doo Sandwich” status, yet another thing that will never bother me. I don’t really remember what the others at the table had. I was too transfixed on my own happiness in the moment. Good beer, good food, good service, and most importantly, good company.

Though all appetites were surely fulfilled at meal’s end, no one was leaving without some meat to go. After all, there would soon be a camp fire to cook on. Pepperoni, andouille, jerky, BBQ pork, garlic franks, and various cheeses were all acquired. Lest we forget, beer was procured as well. We were fully and completely covered for camping. We made tents out of the empty beer bottles and sleeping bags out of the sausage casings (no we didn’t). It was an amazing!